Home
by taintedxwings
Summary: In a war torn world, Naruto, Ibiki, and Anko are the remaining shinobi of Konoha. With everyone dead, they took the chance and used a time travel seal. A small error sends them tumbling into a new dimension. There, they have to rebuild their lives where faces of the dead are a reminder of their destroyed home. But that's not the only problem... ItaNaru
1. Prologue

Disclaimer: Anything not mine is disclaimed.

WARNINGS: AU, OOC, OC, **SLASH (Boy x Boy)**

*Title taken from the song Home by Tablo ft Lee Sora. It's a Korean song with absolutely lovely lyrics (subs can be found on youtube for those interested).

* * *

**Prologue**

_'How did it get to this?'_

This thought repeated itself consistently in Naruto's mind as he sat huddled with the other two members of his team. They were hungry, cold and so _so_ tired. It has been a month since the war had started and the Fifth had sent them away. The explicit orders, in her words, were to 'get the hell away from here' and to 'make sure the heirloom does not fall into _his _hands'. Two weeks, five days, and seven hours has passed since he and his team last heard from the Godaime - sixteen hours since they made a small camp out of an abandoned fox den. They have been on the run, never staying at one safe spot for too long. They avoided big villages and skipped any areas with shinobi. Any place that required them to show identification was too risky since it left a trail that can be traced.

"Guys, we're down to our last soldier pills" Mitarashi Anko, the only female in their three-member squad, murmured. She gave a slight distressed moan as she dug through their depleted food storage scrolls and came back empty-handed. "The pills will only last us three days - five if we don't move."

"That's not an option" the eldest of the three of them, Morino Ibiki, shook his head. "We cannot stay here. We'll be leaving in thirty-eight hours."

The blond sighed."All we've been doing is hiding... When _he_ catches up to us, then what? We don't even know where he is coming from, if he's even chasing us." He rested his head on his knees, arms wrapping around his legs to keep them close to his chest. "I should have never went to get the heirloom."

Ibiki whacked him on the back of his head."Get rid of the self-deprecation, Naruto. That madman would have gotten a hold of it if you haven't already taken it. He went after the jinchuuriki first and since you've ruined that plan of his, he had to make do with another one. It just so happens that the Uzumaki family treasure can help him achieve his goal."

"But still... All we're doing is delaying the inevitable. When he finds us, there's not much we could do."

"None of that, Naru-chan. That's just saying that the army that we have against him will be unable to hold him back. That's several thousand people against his few" the kunoichi patted him on the shoulder.

"When have you become an optimist, Anko-chan? We haven't heard from Hokage-sama since that missive she sent weeks ago."

The three fell silent. Tsunade not being able to send word about the situation on the war front is not that big of a problem. The ninjas were busy fighting after all... But it's been a month since the war started and they have not been recalled. That could only mean bad things: the Hokage is dead or the war is still ongoing. The second possibility is pretty unreasonable. Several countries against a handful of powerful nuke-nin should not take that long. It was not country against country. There is no politics to this - just a crazy immortal who has it in his head to rule the world.

"We should head back" he suddenly declared.

"Back?" the other two questioned.

"We'll circle around and run back to Konoha. If we're being followed, it meant that he has left Hidden Leaf. We'll just go home to scout and see how everything is going. What are the chances that he'll still be in Konoha waiting for us anyway?"

"Home, huh?" Ibiki gave a grim smile.

Anko unfolded the map she had in her pouch and smoothed it out on the ground. "We are currently at the outskirts of Ishi no Kuni (Stone Country). If we head straight back to Konoha, it will take us about four days. The soldier pills will not last us that long."

"No. Save the pills for emergencies. We'll make short stops along the way. We should head north into Tsuchi no Kuni (Earth Country) then southeast into Kusa (Grass) before going back to Hi no Kuni (Fire Country)" he informed, his finger directing the path they would take.

"That will take us eight days!"

"We have all the time in the world... That is until he manages to get the heirloom or we get a missive declaring him dead" Naruto replied bitterly. "Uchihas are nothing but trouble."

Their small campfire burned steadily as they settled in for the night. Ibiki moved towards the front of the cave, taking the first shift.

'_Kami-sama, please let everything work out... please.'_

**(Eight days later)**

They saw the destruction miles before they reached the border of their village. The monumental Hokage Mountain had been destroyed to rubble, only a peak remaining in the distance to remind them that they are at the right place. Dead bodies littered the ground like fallen leaves near the end of autumn and Naruto could make out the hitai-ate of several Kumo (Cloud), Kiri (Mist), Iwa (Stone), Suna and Konoha nin. As they walked further into the carnage, he spotted the green jacket marked with the kanji 'Kake' belonging to their leader and his heart skipped a beat.

"Please let me be wrong" he begged to himself, rushing over to where he detected the distinguishable piece of clothing. His two team members followed after him without question and they too, froze when they arrived at what he had seen. Resigned, he turned the decaying body in his arms and closed the unseeing eyes. "Rest well in the afterlife, Baa-chan."

"What now? There's no village here to stay in, no people left to greet. All we've done is give lives to him" Anko growled in frustration.

"At least that backstabbing traitor is gone" Ibiki snarled viciously, kicking over the dead body of Kabuto. We should gather the dead up and cremate them."

"No" the blond held up a hand to stop them, "there's still one more thing we can do... but we'll need the bodies."

"Naru-chan?" the purple haired kunoichi frowned in askance.

"Remember that seal that we never got to test out?" he inquired. "And I told you that we don't have enough chakra to pull it off?"

The head interrogator gained a look of epiphany. "The time travel array... How does this situation fit in?"

"Heh. Everyone has chakra, including civilians. Whereas shinobi molds and channels chakra through the chakra circulatory system to perform jutsus, the chakra remains dormant in the villagers... but where? Blood - our cells carry this energy." Naruto patted the ground to direct their attention. "As you can see, the blood that had been shed here has left the soil compact; the ground is _soaked_ in it. We have our power source right here. And the bodies have not yet fully decomposed, we can still use them."

The other two looked a bit uncomfortable. "We'd be desecrating the dead... they are our fellow shinobi."

He snorted and looked up at them. "At least their death will not be in vain. If we don't do this, sooner or later, that megalomaniac will catch up. We would be useless then. We have one chance to make things right again. If it means taking the blood of our already dead comrades, I'd grab it and go."

"When have you become so cold?" Anko muttered, but she began moving several bodies away to create space for their youngest member to work with.

"When undead Uchihas decide that they can rule a world rid of people. That's when" Naruto sneered, carving the earth with a kunai. "That clan is the bane of everything. Ambitious, obsessive, greedy bastards."

The other two had no comments, knowing why the teen thought that way. Silence fell upon the group as they proceeded with their time travel plan.

Ibiki shifted on his foot after an hour passed. After days of running and hiding, paranoia starts creeping in the longer they stood out in the open.

"I'm done" the blond informed softly. "We'll need to pour blood over the array. Can one of you cast a katon jutsu to harden the soil?"

Anko did as told while Ibiki picked through the shinobi, choosing the bodies of those not from Konoha. It took forty-eight men's blood to fill up the seventeen feet diameter and six inches deep circular array.

"Okay, now we stand at the three points and channel some chakra to trigger the seal" Naruto indicated to the three smaller circles drawn within the arrangement. "The blood will do the rest."

The three took their places, careful not to mess up the work, and formed the ram seal.

"Fuuin!"

The liquid shimmered a bright ruby for a few seconds before the array activated; a blinding blue light emitted from the seal. The group held their stance as a huge gust of warm wind enveloped them, tearing at their clothes and whipping Naruto and Anko's hair around.

_**cra-ack**_

Naruto's sharp hearing tuned in on the noise. Blue orbs darted around looking for the source. _'What is it?'_ It didn't take long for him to notice the hairline fractures forming along the edge of the design near Ibiki. His eyes widened, mind quickly roving over the reason for the rift. _'Shimatta. Damnit!'_ He cursed mentally, but it was too late to do anything. Sighing in surrender, he wished for the best. He never noticed the spinning sharingan observing them from the lone peak in the distance.

'_How clever...Naruto-kun.'_

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A/N: So... this is a rewrite for Of Wind and Fire. No more psychotic trio, but hopefully better characterizations as the story continues. I will still be taking certain things from OWaF though. This will be completely AU. I gave up on the Naruto manga and anime a long time ago... so unlike the old fic, this one will not be following the canon storyline. I will have to research a lot of things on the wiki so please correct me when you see an error. Some scenes might make an appearance though... I'm not writing a completely original story haha. Hope you guys enjoyed it. I have not written any fiction in my absence. :(

Question 1: I googled "Does a dead shinobi still have chakra?" and I couldn't find an answer. In this story, they do. What do you guys think?

Question 2: Who still wants MadaNaru? This is not really important. If there is, more relationship drama. If not... well... less relationship drama? Haha. I haven't decided. You guys help me choose. (Vote in my profile please. While I do read and appreciate all your reviews, the poll makes it easier)


	2. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: Anything not mine is disclaimed.

WARNINGS: AU, OOC, OC, **SLASH (Boy x Boy)**

A/N: Hmm... it seems like there's not a lot of opinions on whether dead shinobi retain their chakra. Anyway, the poll will still be up for a few more chapters. But just to clarify, this will _definitely_ be ItaNaru at the end. The MadaNaru will either be a one-sided pairing or if enough votes, part of a threesome. This fic is a work in progress and I'm writing as I go... so certain things can still change.

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**Chapter 1**

Minato sighed and stretched, placing his pen back in the holder that sat neatly at one corner of his desk. For once, he managed to finish his paperwork for the day. It was not that he is lazy, or even the fact that he despised the desk job that affects his ability to complete the stacks and stacks of requests daily. The blame falls entirely on his daughter. Usually around midday, her academy teachers would be fed up with her pranks and disruptive manner and he would have to go pick her up. She would then spend the entire time pouting and whining in his office while pestering any Anbu that had the unfortunate luck of reporting in at that time for information about her 'beloved Itachi-sama'. If she wasn't his daughter, he'd have no doubt that Itachi would have filed a complaint. Minato didn't know how her obsession started or why she had such a gigantic crush on the Anbu captain. His daughter is five years younger than the Uchiha heir and is currently enrolled in her last year at the Ninja Academy... So the only time they could have met is when Itachi goes to pick up his younger brother, Sasuke, who is in his daughter's class, on one of his rare days off. Minato wondered if that's what happened when his little girl started spouting about 'love at first sight' or something of that sort. She certainly couldn't have held a conversation with the teen since Itachi spoke monosyllabically most days and only answered in few sentences occasionally. He was startled out of his contemplation by a chuunin with an urgent undertone lacing his voice.

"Hokage-sama, there's a disturbance right outside the west gate! There was a large and sudden build up of chakra about two hours ago, but there was no sighting of anyone or anything. The gate guards have alerted the Anbu, however, there was no commotion or any sign of intruders. Nothing else happened until now. Just before I left to inform you, a large seal appeared on the ground" the shinobi stated hurriedly.

"Was there anyone who entered or left the west gate within an hour before the occurrence?" Minato questioned, getting up.

The chuunin did not get to answer before a huge explosion of chakra set all the ninjas in the village on edge. Without a word, the two disappeared with **shunshin** to the area.

"The seal is glowing brighter..." the messenger noted.

The Yondaime stepped closer while the gate guards and a few Anbu patrolling near them surrounded the field. Despite the seal being a possible threat, he couldn't help but be amazed by the complexity of the design. The seal started around three small focal points where symbols for drawing chakra were carved. He slowly rounded the glowing display, catching sight of the kanji for time, destination, and space. His eyes widened as he tried to comprehend what type of fuuin would use such vague, yet powerful words in its composition. Minato hummed slightly as he worked his mind around how it was possible to have a trifocal seal end up as a circular continuum array. "A merge between... from odd to even... stabilized by inserting..." he mumbled to himself, taking out a scroll and copying the complicated glyph for further study later.

"What does this seal do?" Anbu Tora wondered out loud, voicing the thought that ran through his camarades' minds.

His reply was a horrible, ear-splitting rip resounding from the center of the array. The shinobi group watched in surprise, hidden behind masks both figuratively and literally. The giant tear opened itself up in the air and spat out three figures; but that was not the most shocking thing.

"Dad? Am I hallucinating? I must be dead... This doesn't look like hell though."

* * *

Naruto didn't know how long he's been drifting. His eyes were closed, but from behind his heavy eyelids that wouldn't open was the feeling of empty darkness. None of his senses could detect anything. Breathing only brought fresh air into his lungs. His fingers twitched but touched nothing. Licking his slightly chapped lips did not leave any unsavory flavors on his tongue. He supposed this is what they call limbo. Sometimes he was semi-conscious for a short while, other times he felt like he was awake for days. Calling out for Ibiki and Anko only resulted in a loud echo that caused his ears to ring. He could only hope that they were safe... though it was getting quite lonely just hanging in nowhere. He shifted, finding it funny that he was trying to get comfortable when there was nothing to get comfortable on. _'Jeez... a person can go crazy in here.'_

Almost as if someone heard his wish to leave, Naruto felt a tugging sensation starting from his bellybutton. _'Am I finally getting out of here?'_ he wondered, a small ray of hope blossoming in his chest. The pulling got stronger and it stretched to the rest of his body. He groaned when he started getting dizzy. Nausea began creeping in and he wondered if it was possible to vomit without food in his stomach for... who knows how long. Bile gathered in his throat as the feeling continued and he almost, _almost_, wanted to go back to that suspended isolation. Thankfully, one last harsh tug sent him tumbling onto a hard surface, causing the sensation of his brain getting jolted around in his head. Two following moans let him know that his teammates had also been dropped into the same place. Disorientated, he stumbled a few steps forward before blinking up at his surrounding. He had landed on his knees in front of a blond who looked way too familiar despite not knowing him for the entirety of his life. "Dad? Am I hallucinating? I must be dead... but this does not look like hell." He babbled, vertigo still affecting his thought process. "Oh Kami-sama" he whimpered and crawled out of the seal he appeared on and retched. Only acid and saliva came out, but it eased a little of the pounding in his head. His stomach cramped from expelling nothing and he coughed to get the rest of the liquid out of his throat. From the vomiting sounds behind him, it appears that Ibiki and Anko were not unaffected by the shift either.

"Who are you and why do you have a Konoha forehead protector?" The Yondaime demanded. His voice was frigid to hide the bewilderment of being called 'father' by a lookalike who could be mistaken for his son.

"Uzumaki Naruto. Is this not Konoha?" The younger blond responded easily, standing up despite his exhaustion. He didn't want to be caught unaware, especially when he didn't know where the botched up time travel seal sent them. The very people in front of them could kill them effortlessly since they had the advantage of his team being fatigued.

"You are in no position to be making inquiries" the Hokage retorted before turning to Tora. "Have them brought to the T&I headquarters. I will be monitoring this session."

"Hai, Hokage-sama" the Anbu bowed. He grabbed hold of the blond teen and signaled the others to get the other two.

Despite being manhandled and bound by null-chakra cuffs, Naruto was quite thankful for the hand gripping his arm. He rested part of his weight on the other shinobi, his aching body finally getting to him. From out of the corner of his eyes, he could see his two teammates doing the same to their captors. Sighing, he mentally sorted out the things he would could reveal to the Hokage. From what he could see, they were either back to before he was born or they were in a completely different reality. The latter was more plausible seeing how Ibiki, Anko, and him were not tussled up and immediately thrown into a cell. When the Yondaime had been alive, tension was high between Iwa and Konoha. If three strangers appeared in front of the village gates wearing said village's hitai-ate, they would have been regarded as enemies first. So lost in thought, he didn't realize that they have arrived at the Konoha Intelligence Headquarters until he was pushed into a seat.

* * *

The interrogation was daunting, having to see the faces of the dead on the captives. Minato had to hold back his anger when they each gave their data, especially when his replica recited his baby boy's information to the tee. His baby boy who never lived past his first day. His little one whom was sacrificed with his beloved wife that day to save the village from the Kyuubi. But he couldn't order the execution of the imitations, because his morals kicked in and made him listen.

Morino Ibiki was the first to contribute his profile. As the oldest of the three members of his team, he was currently 31, born March 20th. The man stood at six foot four with a tanned and scarred visage. His hitai-ate was worn like a bandanna and the signature black cloak was present. Minato was not surprised when the man claims to be the head of the Torture and Interrogation department. The deceased Ibiki had also held that occupation and died in field with his Infiltration and Reconnaissance team years ago.

The female hostage went next. Mitarashi Anko's birthday is on October 24th and she had just turned 27. She has purple hair styled into a short, spiky, fanned ponytail and pupiless light brown eyes. Like her other teammate, she was part of T&I. Minato remembered the five foot four, scandalously dressed jounin who had been killed with the head interrogator during the same surveillance mission.

Everyone gave the last prisoner extra scrutiny after hearing the Yondaime being called father by the clone. The blond was the same height as his female partner, dressed in a sleeveless black vest zipped up over a white tank top. The revealed pale arms were covered in silver seals that Minato couldn't make out. A simple thin chain necklace hung inside the shirt, hiding the charm. The teen wore the standard black shinobi pants wrapped with bandages at the ankles and the black shinobi-issued sandals.

"Uzumaki Naruto, 17, born October 10" the teen answered monotonously. "Occupation: seal master."

Minato's brows furrowed at that information. Uzumaki was his late wife's maiden name and Naruto was the name they gave to their baby boy... But his son had died twelve years ago. Here was a boy who had the same golden hair, blue eyes, and bone structure as him, claiming to be Naruto, but was five years too old to be his son if his son had lived. Minato watched as the teen reach his cuffed hands up to run through his spiky hair and split the straight, waist-length, layered strands at the back over his shoulders.

Yamanaka Inoichi, the current Head Interrogator, eyed the three captives curiously. "You dare claim to be members of Konoha?" he inquired. "The same members who have _died_ years ago?"

"Hmm" the blond hummed and all the Anbu in the room wondered if the boy was going to give up the farce. "So that's why we look like we still do... I can't believe that the seal didn't explode and kill us."

The Yondaime narrowed his eyes. "What is your purpose in Konoha?"

"Nothing. We were not supposed to be in _this_ Konoha" Naruto groaned. "I fucked up and we ended up _here_. But I guess it's better than the alternative..."

"Explain."

A sigh escaped the teen. "You know that seal we appeared in?" he asked rhetorically. "It's a time travel array. We were supposed to return back to our younger bodies. It was our chance to fix things again... Guess this is karma for meddling with things beyond our reach. It was such a stupid mistake. _So_ _stupid._ I didn't take into account that mud cracks when baked at a high temperature. The hairline fracture at the 'destination' sequence and the 'bind' character messed up our target. So we landed here... where the original "us" no longer exist and five years back in time."

"Back in time? You are half a decade older than your counterparts."

"Exactly. The seal should have transported our souls back five years and into the bodies of the Naruto, Ibiki, and Anko back then. But it didn't and our entire selves got pulled through time and space here."

The room was quiet as everyone but the captives took in the impossibility. They have never even thought of reworking time, though things like space and dimension have been played around with. Souls were considered taboo and were never touched upon. Killing merely removed a soul, it did not distort it. To find that the three in front of them have survived messing with both prohibitions is a little shocking.

"Why did you need to redo the past?" Inoichi wondered, voicing the thought on everyone elses' mind.

"Well, isn't that the million ryo question" Ibiki muttered. "There was a world war back in our dimension started by an organization. The leader of the Akatsuki believed in peace through war and began collecting the tailed beasts to carry out his quest. S-ranked missing nins were recruited for his cause. Behind the scenes, however, was the undead Uchiha Madara who planned on world domination by using all nine bijuu to merge with the body of the ten-tails sealed in the moon to become its jinchuuriki. Then he would project his Eternal Sharingan to the moon and control everyone with **Tsukiyomi**. That was his idea of utopia... But Naruto here destroyed that plan. He removed the Kyuubi from that world."

Anko coughed and took over. "The Uzumaki heirloom became Madara's next target. The family treasure, the Kyouka Suigetsu (Mirror Flower, Water Moon), is a sword that casts illusions on anyone who have seen it unsheathed. You can see how useful that would be in Madara's quest for power. The catch though, was that the sword could only be wielded by someone of Uzumaki blood."

The Uzumaki in the room sneered. "We were sent away from the village to keep the heirloom safe. By the time we returned to the village a month later, Konoha and all the allied shinobi were dead. The armies of four villages were wiped out... which is why we even gave the time travel array a thought. We used a blood sacrifice, the blood of our dead comrades to power the seal. But we messed up and ended up in a different dimension."

"I see" Minato commented. "However, despite your alliance and your loyalty to Konoha, this is not _your_ home and we have no reason to trust you as of yet. But the three of you have not garnered any reason for us to keep you prisoners, so you will be placed under house arrest for a month until we can integrate you into our system."

"I am retaining my first name" Naruto inputted. "Since our counterparts are dead and we are obviously older than what the 'originals' would be if they were alive, all we need to do is change our names. I'll just switch my last name to Kazama."

"I'll go by Mitarashi Azuki" Anko said with a smirk. "I'm an orphan so there shouldn't be anyone else in the village with my last name."

Ibiki grimaced as he tried to think up a name similar to his own. "Morinozuka Ibi" he finally decided, using the nickname Naruto gave him for his first name.

"Very well, since you guys have nothing to your names, you will have to be placed with an Anbu who does not live in the barracks" Minato glanced around. "Itachi-kun, you live alone in one of your clan's branch houses. Your mission will be to monitor these three. You will be paid of course."

The Anbu under the raven mask nodded imperceptibly.

A scowl graced Naruto's face at that, but he kept his silence. _'This is not our Konoha anymore'_ he reminded himself.

"Naruto, what is your relation to Yondaime-sama?" Inoichi questioned curiously.

"None. I do not know him" the said blond replied.

"You called him father, when you arrived."

The teen's lips thinned. "I was disorientated when the seal brought us here. If you didn't remember, I vomited at his feet. My father died a long time ago."

"You carry his wife's maiden name."

"Why are you being so persistent? Does my answer mean so much to you?" Naruto snapped. "Didn't you say that this is _not_ _my home_? That means any associations here are _not mine_ either."

"Enough!" Minato interrupted. "The three of you will stay with Itachi-kun until you can be trusted."

"Perhaps you should keep our discussions in mind. Parallel dimensions are similar in several ways..." the blond warned before getting up to follow his host for the month. _'If anything, the Uchihas are definitely to watch out for. Their prized Sharingan is the manifestation of the Curse of Hatred. That won't be changed no matter where we are - even if this is no longer our home.'_

* * *

A/N: Wow... it took me forever to churn out this chapter. I got stuck writing and rewriting the second half. I got bored of reading it several times... that says something when you get tired of your own writing... so I erased it, daydreamed some more before I came back to it. Not much happened in this chapter, but the trio are finally in the new universe! Hope you enjoyed~


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